Founded in 1347, Pembroke is the third oldest of the Cambridge University colleges and the earliest to survive on its current site.
The Mill Lane project, with architects Haworth Tompkins, represented a one-off opportunity to develop the area opposite the Porter’s Lodge, to provide new student accommodation, teaching spaces, a cafe and flexible use spaces.
The first phase involved the demolition and removal of a number of more recent extensions to the 18th and 19th Century buildings. Retained buildings were refurbished, with their layouts altered, and new infill buildings were used to connect the existing fabric together in a more logical sequence. At the corner of the site the United Reformed Church was converted to a music and teaching space. Behind the Trumpington Street buildings, a new exposed oak glulam foyer neatly knits together three of the old buildings, while the Victorian School House has a new exposed timber mezzanine and roof that was inserted within its original brick walls.
Phase Two saw the demolition of several 19th and 20th Century buildings of lesser importance, to enable the construction of contemporary student accommodation. The new blocks are gathered around Dolby Court, beneath which is buried a large attenuation tank that limits surface water run-off from the site. Millers Yard on Mill Lane was heavily refurbished, retaining and upgrading as much of the original structure and floors as possible, with a new top storey that ties into the adjacent new blocks.
